"Aiko-san, I have a question," Sasuke asked as he came home from the meeting with Kakashi.
"What is it?"
"Kakashi told us not to eat before tomorrow's test. Should I listen to him?" he asked, feeling that it was a trap, but he couldn't be sure.
Aiko stopped what she was doing and finally turned to look at him briefly. "What did he say?"
"He advised us not to eat, or we might puke," he repeated what Kakashi had said.
"Advised? Not ordered? Then it's a trap. A shinobi should always be prepared before going on a mission, and going without eating first means you will have less energy than normal," she explained, not surprised by the advice at all.
Sasuke nodded. That was what he had been thinking, but he wanted to be sure. "Alright," he said, as he turned to leave.
"And Sasuke," Aiko called, stopping him. "Remember, a team needs four people, so even if one is useless, you have to carry them until at least becoming a Chūnin."
"I know," he said before he left.
The next day, Sasuke arrived at the training ground early, having eaten a large but light breakfast.
He had to admit, he was a bit nervous, not because he was afraid of failing the test, but because he was not sure how to handle Naruto and Sakura.
He knew about the test, and he also knew what to do to pass it. The problem was, Naruto and Sakura didn't.
Naruto was too loud and too reckless, and Sakura was too weak and too much of a fangirl.
He was going to have to do all the thinking for the team, and that was not a position he was used to.
Still, he knew he had to do it. He had to pass this test, not just for himself, but for Naruto as well.
After all, he needed him to get stronger, to become a weapon he could use against HIM.
Despite arriving early, he wasn't the first. Sakura was already there, looking nervous, but the moment she spotted Sasuke, she beamed happily. Clearly, she had arrived early in the hope of spending time alone with him.
"You're early, Sasuke-kun," she said, her voice filled with excitement.
"Something I'm starting to regret," he said, not wanting to get into a conversation with her.
His reply knocked the wind out of Sakura's sails, but only for a moment; after all, she was used to him acting like that, and the more he did it, the more she liked him, finding his cold, dismissive attitude cool and mysterious.
The two of them waited in silence, with Sakura trying to start a conversation a few times, only to be shot down by Sasuke's cold replies.
Finally, Naruto arrived, looking confident and proud of himself for showing up on time.
"Good morning!" he shouted as he ran towards them.
Sasuke watched him with a keen eye. He noticed that while Naruto looked confident, he also looked a bit pale, and he kept touching his stomach, as if it was hurting him.
Sasuke couldn't help but feel a small smile touch his lips. So, the dead last fell for the trap. Not that he was surprised, he was, after all, the dead last.
"Did you eat breakfast, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.
"Of course," he said. "Why wouldn't I?"
"What! But Kakashi-sensei told us not to," she said, looking at him with a mix of confusion and admiration.
Sasuke didn't even bother to answer her. Instead, he looked at Naruto. "And you? I take it you didn't?"
Naruto's face turned red. "Of course I did! I would never miss a meal!"
Sasuke could tell he was lying, not that he cared. In fact, he was glad. He had, after all, prepared for this. "Is that so? Guess I brought two bentos for nothing," he said, patting the bag at his side.
Instantly, Naruto's stomach growled loudly, a sound so loud that even Sakura heard it.
"You liar! You didn't eat, did you?" she accused him.
"No, I did! I swear! I'm just a bit hungry!" Naruto defended himself, while at the same time, his eyes kept glancing at the bag of bentos.
Sasuke couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for him. He knew Naruto was poor, so he doubted he had a good breakfast even if he did eat.
Another growl quickly followed the first, but this one wasn't from Naruto, but from Sakura, who had also fallen for the trap. And she was so much worse at hiding it, covering her stomach with her hands, her face as red as a tomato.
Sasuke couldn't help but smirk. So, he had been right, both of them were idiots. He couldn't help but wonder how they had even passed the final exam.
It was just another reminder of how little the Academy had taught them, a failure that would make them weak shinobi if it weren't for teachers like Kakashi.
Still, Sasuke had to wonder why Kakashi would do this. The test was to see if they could work as a team, so why would he want them to be hungry?
Was it to test their willpower? Or was it a lesson in always being prepared?
He was betting on the latter, as the Uchiha clan had always taught him that a good shinobi was always prepared.
So this test of theirs... it was not just a test, but a lesson, one he already knew, but that they clearly didn't.
"It sounds like you are both hungry, so eat," he said, placing both bentos on the ground. "I already ate, so I don't need them."
"You're the best, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cheered, her hunger winning over her pride as she reached for one of the bentos.
"You're not so bad after all, Sasuke!" Naruto said, as he too reached for the other bento.
Naruto didn't hesitate to start eating, but Sakura was different. She was hungry, yes, but she was still worried about what Kakashi had said.
"Sasuke-kun, do you really think we should be eating? Didn't Kakashi-sensei tell us not to?" she asked, her hand hovering over the bento.
"Did he tell you not to eat?" he simply asked.
This caused her to pause, unsure about how to answer. "Yes?" she finally said nervously.
"Wrong, he advised you not to eat. There is a difference," he explained. "If he didn't want us to eat, he would have just made it an order. He didn't, so he wanted to test us, and you two failed." he explained, not bothering to hide the disdain in his voice.
Sasuke's words caused Sakura to blush, not in the way she did around him normally, but in embarrassment. He was right. She had failed a test she didn't even know they were having.
"What? Test? What test?" Naruto asked, his mouth full of rice.
"Every jōnin will test their team in some way. Today's so-called mission is that test; this is to see if Kakashi will be willing to be our teacher," he explained, figuring he might as well start ruining Kakashi's plan.
"Wha? Is there something like that?" Naruto asked in disbelief.
Sasuke nodded. "Yes, and Kakashi is famous for never having passed a team, so he tried to trick us into not eating, making us too hungry to complete the test, thereby failing." He was making some of it up, but he guessed it was close enough to the truth.
Sakura gasped. "Then... then by eating we are... we are..." she trailed off, trying to find the words.
"We are preparing for the test, and showing him that we are not as stupid as he thinks we are," Sasuke said. "Now, eat. You'll need the energy."
His words, while harsh, also served as a form of encouragement, something Sakura was not used to hearing from him, which made her blush again as she started to eat her bento.
Naruto, on the other hand, was just happy to be eating, not really caring about the reason why, but the idea that Sasuke was helping them made him feel a bit warmer towards him.
They ate in silence, with Naruto finishing his bento in a matter of minutes, while Sakura took her time, savoring each bite.
Sasuke just watched them, a small, almost invisible smirk on his face. He had read about this test of Kakashi's, and he didn't expect it to be easy to counter.
Still, he had to admit, it was a clever test. It wasn't just about strength or skill, but about thinking, about being prepared, about teamwork. And by providing the bentos, he had already taken the first step towards building that team.
Whether or not Kakashi would be forced to pass them due to politics in the end, Sasuke didn't want to get in that way; he would pass this test and prove that he was good enough to pass any test, even without politics.
Soon enough, both of them finished eating, and then, as time passed, they all realized that Kakashi was late again, and not just a little late, but late by hours.
As one hour turned into two, and two into three, Sasuke grew ever more frustrated, but also pleased with himself, because it was one thing to skip breakfast; it was another to skip breakfast when lunchtime rolled around.
That would give them plenty of time to get really, really hungry, hungry enough to grow slightly weak from the hunger.
"Damn it, he is late again!" Naruto screamed in frustration. "How can he be a good shinobi if he's always late?"
"He is probably doing it on purpose," Sasuke said, "To test our patience."
"To test our patience? What kind of test is that?" Sakura asked.
"The shinobi world is not a classroom where you are always told what to do. Sometimes, you just have to wait, or do things you don't want to do, and this is just one of those things. He wants to see how we react to it," Sasuke explained, though he was getting annoyed himself.
"Still, three hours? That's just too much," Naruto complained.
Sasuke agreed that it was too much, but there was nothing he could do to make Kakashi appear.
"How about we teach him a lesson?" he asked, making it sound like it was an idea he had just gotten due to his own frustration.
"Teach him a lesson?" Naruto asked, clearly interested.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Sakura added nervously, but Sasuke could see that in truth, she fully agreed with the idea; she was just too scared to admit it.
"I heard a few things about the tests Kakashi normally does, and they all involve fighting him to some extent." Sasuke said, making it sound like he was sharing a secret. "So if we plan now, we will be able to get the jump on him, and teach him for wasting our time." he continued to push.
Naruto liked the idea a lot. "I'm in! What is the plan?"
"Simple," Sasuke said. "Whatever the test is, as long as it allows us to fight him, we will pretend to want to fight him one on one, but in truth, we jump him all together, and take him by surprise." he suggested.
Naruto's face lit up with excitement. "Yeah! That's a great plan! He won't know what hit him!"
Sakura, on the other hand, was hesitant. "But... what if he gets mad? He's a jōnin, and we're just Genin."
"He's not going to get mad," Sasuke said. "He's testing us, remember? If anything, he'll be impressed by our teamwork."
Sakura still looked unsure, but the thought of impressing Sasuke was too tempting for her to resist. "Okay, I'm in," she said, a small smile playing on her lips.
Sasuke couldn't help but feel a bit of satisfaction. He had managed to get them on the same page.
Kakashi's bell test would try to split them up, pit them against one another, but thanks to his being late and Sasuke bringing food to win their trust, he had managed to turn them both against Kakashi.
So once he tried to trick them with the two bells, it wouldn't work.
(End of chapter)
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